princess_of_ida | IC Inbox

[Ianthe wiped away some tears with her normal hand.]

Sunshine, I am the one person you don't have to justify any of this to. I got you. And from my understanding, he deserved what he got. [He definitely had it coming in her opinion.] Sometimes people need to die, and it rarely ever goes to according to script.

Yeah.

[ there's something reluctant there in her expression. she hesitates on the word, which is dry and creaking in the back of her throat. she doesn't want it to be true. she doesn't want him to need to die — didn't want to be the one to do it, to have to do it.

she wanted better than this. she wanted things that she still hasn't let go of. it was the void that had taken hold of her wounded rage and turned it into something truly violent.

she glances back over her shoulder, towards where the body lies. ] I did it. They're over there.

Then gather your bones and let's move to a different clearing to set the tent up. I don't sense his soul and think he's transitioned to the River to await Resurrection, but I don't trust the Void to not turn that corpse into a revenant.

[And she'd rather not find out if that's possible.]

What are you going to do with the rest of the body?

Edited 2023-09-29 10:45 (UTC)

The Duchess said she'll recover it.

[ alina hugs herself, rubbing her hands along her upper arms. ]

I'll stay until that happens, to make sure no one ... [ no one else desecrates it. she drops her gaze, dwelling on her own sins. is there worse than her, coming to carve him up for parts? now that he's dead, she can think only of the best ways he'd made her feel. of how she'd finally felt worthy and golden and glorious under his gaze, how she'd finally believed herself important. ]

I can walk it directly into the Void so you don't have to. I can walk it directly to a spider nest so they can consume it and speed it onto the Duchess since she uses the spiders anyway to recover the corpses.

Or we can bury it. If you just sit here watching over it, someone else will likely find you with it. And then you'll have to deal with questions.

[ she struggles with it—visibly, pressing her lips together, looking away. the thought of leaving him in the dark of the void feels wrong. but so does letting him get devoured by spiders. so does killing him.

this has felt wrong since it started. she tries to remind herself that it's his fault, that he was the reason she'd been given no other choice, but that just threatens to become anger with no place to go.

she nods her head. ]

The spiders. [ it's more direct. more guaranteed that he'll get where he needs to go. even if he'll never know that she showed that kind of mercy. ]

[It was his fault. This was inevitable if Alina was going to achieve the lofty goals of her ambition that she spoke to Ianthe. It was uncomfortable to watch Alina demean herself by fretting over the blood spent, but she reminded herself that Alina tried to be a good person and the hold Kirigan had on her was going to take a long time to loosen.

Ianthe didn't like that she now understood that it would never go away. Even if she wouldn't acknowledge how she knew.]

Alright. That was, only you, me, and he will know what happened here. [A kiss was pressed to the top of Alina's head.] Now gather your bones so I can send the body on its way.

[ she hates having to look at it. hates having to think about it. she presses her eyes shut against the nauseating thought of doing it once more. but just this last time, and then she will be done with this morbid business. she can do it once more to be done with it forever.

she steels herself, breathes deep, and turns to approach aleksander's prone form. he no longer looks like he might just be sleeping. not with what she has done to him, not with all the blood and the torn flesh.

kneeling down beside him, she reaches for the bone fragments left behind on his abdomen, then hesitates. it feels wrong. to just take and discard him. it feels like she ought to be telling him goodbye, or apologizing, or at least showing some regret that it came to this, even if he had been the one to force the point.

so she leans over him, smoothes her blood-slick hand back over his hair to get it out of his face, and presses the gentlest kiss to his lukewarm forehead. then she takes the bones and leaves him, resolved not to look upon the mess she'd made again. ]

(cw: intrusive thoughts, body implant, references to abuse and previous murder)

[Ianthe pursed her lips, pressing what little blood they contained out, as she watched Alina grace the flesh husk that once contained the soul of a man that harmed her in ways that Ianthe could only speculate with a tender kiss. She bit the inside of her cheek and articulated phalanges as the void-insidious feelings of jealousy and possessiveness slipped through the mental barrier that was becoming more and more porous as the days passed.

She could just take that skull later. Come back to the spider nest after Alina had moved on after the bone graft, pull it free, and hide it with the corpse she was already hauling. Bone took a long time to digest. Alina would never know. She could place the skull where it could see her f--

No. No. No, that was Corona's voice she was hearing in the back of her mind. That's what the Void's been sounding like lately as though it knew her vulnerability. No, that was too vindictive. Ianthe had better control than that. Alina would figure it out. The skull wasn't worth the cost. Besides, Ianthe would want Alina to give her such a kiss as well.

"But did she when she strangled you and thought you dead?" her sister's voice whispered.

Ianthe cracked her neck and exhaled, fingers reaching up to run over the sun scar and the raised bump under the skin at the center where she'd placed the pearl Gilia had given her.

She raised her bone hand and ensnared the corpse with her thanergy, infusing it with ease. The body picked itself up off the ground, turning away from Alina, walking steadily almost as though it wasn't a lifeless husk directly toward the closest spider nest. Ianthe watched it go without a word.]

[ she drifts back to ianthe at first like a ghost, but when she sees that bone hand lift, alina recognizes the gesture of her necromancy.

she takes a deep breath and folds herself once more against ianthe, crowding her body slightly, cheek pressed to the mark that she had left on her sternum. embracing her. and letting ianthe care for her in turn, letting her deal with the messiness of clean-up, get rid of the evidence of what alina had done.

when she cannot hear the sounds of the corpse's shambling anymore, alina whispers, ] Thank you.

[Her arm came up around Alina, fingers delving into the dark strands to the back of her neck where she gently kneaded the tense muscle. At least she had this. Alina came to her, seeking her warmth, the steadiness of her heartbeat, without invitation. Twice now.

Take that, Void!Coronabeth.

Ianthe made a soft sound if acknowledgement in the back of her throat, eyes still on the distant beacon of thanergy that was almost to the spider nest. She wouldn't take her senses off the corpse until it had been taken by one of the large spiders.]

Do you want me to see to the blood?

[ at first she thinks, no, she deserves this. to look like the monster that she is, to wear the evidence of her sins. but then she remembers how it had begun with aleksander, how he had asked what happened, and she'd seen fit to repeat the process with him when he was so much less durable than ianthe. no. she couldn't risk anyone else like that. better not to risk questions.

so alina nods. ]

Please. I don't know where to find the river, anymore. [ she had, once. she'd mapped this whole area, before it had become twisted and impossible. it feels like the kind of thing that requires her attention and focus, so alina reluctantly unwraps herself from ianthe.

she holds the bones out to her, too. ianthe had trusted her with the journals, with her research, with her madness. now alina was trusting ianthe with hers. ]

[There. The corpse had been taken by the spiders, sealing it within their silken coccoon to feast upon. If anyone found it, the body would be unrecognizable and they'd just assume the person had an unfortunate encounter with the dangerous spiders.

Eyes turning back to Alina, she cradled the sun summoner's face with her bone hand, looking it over for injury before a gentle wave of thanergy turned all the blood evidence to ash where it flaked away.

There was a moment of hesitancy before Ianthe took the bones. Alina really should be the one to carry them, keep them, until it was time to graft them, but she recognized the symbolism behind relinquishing them.]

Let's move to a different location. I can ward it to keep prior far enough away so we don't have to worry about interruptions.

Okay. [ she says, uneasy. she looks down at her dress, then falls into step alongside ianthe. as she does, she can't help but pipe up, ] But not too far. I just want to get this over with. I don't want to have to look at them anymore.

[ the body is gone, and those bones are the last evidence of her crime. she wants them out of sight and out of mind. ]

There's a better spot back where I was - not far. A copse of close trees with a flat ground. It's the best we can do for privacy unless you want a flesh tent.

[The skeletal deer fell into step on the other side of Ianthe as they walked the short distance to the area. Once there, she pulled the bedroll from the deer and handed it to Alina.]

Spread this out over there and get comfortable as best as you can. I need a few minutes to ward.

[Taking the bones with her, Ianthe set out to do a radial blood ward that would keep people from encroaching on the area and see what they were doing.]

[ she grabs the bedroll and starts spreading it out, glancing periodically over her shoulder at ianthe. at the blood, the magic.

and then at the deer. ]

What's with the deer, anyway?

Pack animal. It has both mine and Illumination's gear. Too much for us to carry on our backs. I'll have to catch back up to them; we got separated. Again.

[It was irritating how the Void was messing with them all. But the warding went well enough, Ianthe having opened up her wrist to get arterial blood to use. Just in case there were ghosts about as well.]

That should do it. Not even spirits will interfere.

I hope they're alright.

[ alina looks up at ianthe as she finishes, eyes soft. nervous. if the warding is done, that means it's time for the rest. there are things to warn ianthe about. ]

About the amplifier. There's a reason we only have Durasts do this. Because it's their power, yes, but no physician could set an amplifier to bone.

It's going to connect to my power. That's a lot of energy. Thalergy, I think you called it. [ she folds her hands in her lap. ] If a Grisha amplifier is removed, the Grisha won't survive the explosion it creates. I think the same thing applies to if putting one on goes wrong.

So just ... be careful.

Mhmm. The sudden release of all thalergy or thanergy at once creates-- Yeah, I don't need to repeat what you just said in necro-speak. I'm aware of the risks and...

[She sighed, kneeling down next to Alina and setting the bones down on the bedroll so she could take Alina's face in her hands, gently running her thumbs over her cheekbones.]

I've done something very similar before. I'll tell you about it afterward, if all goes well. Now, top off and lay back. I need full access to your clavicles.

[ alina's expression softens as ianthe touches her face. allowing the gesture to reassure her, to soothe her. she lifts one hand to cover ianthe's bone hand.

then she drops her hand, draws back a little, and starts to pull her dress up over her head. ]

This is one of the more creative excuses I've heard to get me naked. [ it helps her, making the joke. dispels some of her nerves. ]

What can I say? You have nice tits.

[Ianthe was just going to help get that dress off and folded up to be used as a pillow. She then crafted a couple inches of ligament and wrapped it in some fabric torn from her own shirt.]

You're going to want to bite down on this. I know you don't want to be hurt, least of all by me again, but this is going to hurt. I'll numb some of it, but this isn't just sticking bone to bone. I'm going to split and wrap the amplifier around your bone and, depending on how I navigate the whole power alignment, might need to connect them via marrow. If I didn't need your feedback, I'd offer to anesthetize you. So, sorry in advance.

[ if she looked uneasy before, it's really setting in now. haggard, wary, she exhales deeply and nods. ]

Great. Sounds fun.

[ she takes the makeshift gag from ianthe and, grimacing, puts it into her mouth. then she lies back on the dress-pillow and shifts her shoulders, trying the impossible task of getting comfortable while anticipating pain. ]

It's just the price that needs be paid.

[Ianthe gathered her hair up and twisted it around, tying it with itself so it wouldn't get in her way. She then settled down to Alina's side. She ran both hands along Alina's clavicle, mapping the bone and ligaments, taking in the anatomy as she could really only do through touch. As she did, a cool sensation filtered across the area as one by one, she impaired the nerves starting with the skin and moving deeper into the muscle tissue.]

We'll do one side and then the other. For balance. Try to lay still.

[Splitting the skin and muscle from SC to AC joint was easy, the tissue parting to the bone cleaner and better than any blade could. Blood welled up, but Ianthe halted that with a wave of her hand, exposing the white bone of the clavicle. Fingers dipping inside the long incision, she widened it and then took a slow breath.

This next part was the one that was going to hurt the most, as she curled her fingers around the bone, flesh magic at her fingertips moving the tissue, blood vessels, and nerves aside so Ianthe could get the thoracic outlet clear - truly creating a hollow between clavicle and first rib so she could wrap the bone around. She swallowed as she narrowed her focus, feeling Alina's thalergy so much more intensely now that she had her hands inside the sun summoner.

Her eyes flickered up to check on Alina as she reached for the first of the amplifier bones. Just in case there was a conductive charge about to be passed between Alina and the amplifier while Ianthe had a hand on both, she braced herself and murmured more to herself than Alina.]

First, preserve the source with memory intact. [Already done as bone was peak storage material.] Step two, analyze it - understand it's structure and shape. [The magic inside the bone, the way it was layered, and the essence of the bone itself.]

[ the pain is immense — worse, really, for having no clear cause, for being cleaved open by nothing. there is no distraction of a source. just the pain, and alina's efforts to hold herself back from pushing ianthe away to stop it.

she bites down into the cloth. grabs against ianthe's knee, fingers digging in. the cloth muffles a pained noise, a low grunting of sorts.

the pain draws out her power, too. a crackling white-blue light that forms like a cloud of electricity around them, swallowing ianthe with her. ]

[Fuck, that's bright. Ianthe had to close her eyes and work with her lyctor senses alone for a few seconds while her eyes recovered. She set the theorem to hold Alina's flesh and sinew in place so she need not have a hand inside her chest continually.]

Step three... remove and absorb it.

[She took the amplifier bone and, now with healed eyes back on it, held it in the middle with both hands. Slowly, she drew them outward to each end, the bone splitting in half lengthwise as she did to expose the marrow. A containment field of thanergy encapsulating the bone prevented any of the precious marrow from being lost. Ianthe flattened it to a thin sheet of osseous material, spreading the marrow along the inside. Malleable now, she carefully threaded the amplifier around Alina's clavicle but kept it from making contact until she had it in place and just needed to compress it down.

She paused, looking over the flow of thalergy within and without Alina and how that which the amplifier stored was reaching out. Oh, the feedback Ianthe was about to feel was going to be painful. She used her hands to press the amplifier to Alina's bone, threading amplifier bone and summoner bone together through the layer of marrow, stitch by necromantic stitch.

please don't fight me sun thalergy don't reject it]

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(Supposed to be 'Then now, only you, me, and he' >:[

it's ok i figured it out lol!

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cw: self-harm for magic

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cw: homebrew surgery, blood, pain, flesh magic

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